The Prisoner Of Stone/Part 4
Meanwhile, Vanity was walking home to the village with Cupid, talking about things that were going on in their lives since they had last met. "I don't understand why you don't like Eros so much, Cupid," Vanity said. "Is he really that bad when he smurfs those flaming heart lust arrows at everyone?" "Oh, he's the worst among all the cherubs, Vanity," Cupid said. "You see, we as cherubs care about all sorts of creatures having love and compassion for one another, and Eros only cares about creatures fulfilling even the worst of their desires upon one another, even if that means going against what males and females are designed for, which is to fall in love and create families." "But I just don't see what's so wrong about my kind of love, Cupid," Vanity said. "I'm not hurting anyone else if the one that I truly care for is myself." "There's nothing wrong with having love for yourself, Vanity," Cupid said. "But love isn't meant to be just given to yourself alone. It's meant to be shared with others, as brothers and sisters love each other as family, and a male and female who wish to start a family of their own someday share their love with their offspring. I don't see how you can be forever happy with yourself if the only person you can give your love to is yourself." "It just doesn't seem fair that creatures of the world can't smurf whatever kind of love they want to smurf with whomever they want," Vanity said. "Neither is it fair to deny other creatures the kind of appropriate love that they deserve, Vanity, even if it's your fellow Smurfs," Cupid said. "Us cherubs envy the kind of love that allows creatures like you to have children, but we can't go against we are created to do as cherubs to do whatever it is we want, or else we would all end up like Eros." Vanity sighed. "I suppose that you are right, Cupid, that we can't smurf against what we are created for. I only wish that there was more than one Smurfette in the world that can truly appreciate me just as much as I appreciate me." "You're still a good Smurf, Vanity, no matter what kind of love you have," Cupid said. "I'm sure that you'll find the right kind of Smurf that you can share your love with." They soon arrived at the village. "Well, at the very least, I hope that you'll enjoy your birthday today, Cupid," Vanity said. "Every Smurf seems to be excited about you smurfing." Then Vanity and Cupid saw several Smurfs still beating on each other, passing by them as if they were a big blue tumbleweed of violence. "You're certainly right about them being excited, Vanity," Cupid said as he and Vanity watched. "Cupid, are we glad to see you," Papa Smurf said as soon as he, Grandpa Smurf, and Sassette met up with the cherub. "We were preparing for your birthday party when this thing started to smurf for no reason." "Oh dear," Cupid said. "I could remember that this was how things were when the clans of Smurf first came to this place, and all it took was a single arrow of love to get them to work together as brothers and sisters." "Well, this place could sure use a few shots of love to smurf it back to how it used to be since that day, Cupid," Grandpa Smurf said. "It's a good thing that I'm here to bring back love into the village, on this very day when it was first formed years ago," Cupid said as he pulled out an arrow from his quiver. "Wait," Papa Smurf said, noticing the tip of the arrow that Cupid pulled out. He came closer to examine the tip and realized what it was. "This arrow of yours has a black heart." "What?" Cupid exclaimed as he pulled out the arrows and saw that they all had black hearts on their tips. "This isn't my quiver!" "Smurfadoodles, I can bet you these things are the cause of all the hate in the village," Grandpa Smurf said as he got a closer look at the black-heart arrow. "That's just what I was thinking, Grandpa Smurf, and that's probably what Empath was smurfing all along," Papa Smurf said. "But who would want to fill the world with hate, Pappy?" Sassette asked. Both Papa and Grandpa Smurf had a revelation that made them gasp. "Chlorhydris!" "Oh my, that evil witch is the one who is behind all this hate being smurfed here?" Vanity asked. "I'm afraid so, Vanity," Papa Smurf said before he turned to his father. "Grandpa, I'm going to leave the village in your hands and Empath's while the rest of us smurf Chlorhydris a visit. If she's the one who's responsible for those black-heart arrows, then we need to smurf Cupid's love arrows back from her soon or there may not be much of a village left after this day." "I'll try to smurf my best to get the grandsmurfs settled down, Papa Smurf, but you better smurf those love arrows back soon, because me and Empath won't be able to stop them from smurfing each other to pieces," Grandpa Smurf said as he watched another big blue ball of violence passing by him. "I'm sure that the two of you will smurf your best, and if Tapper can help since he's not affected, then you can smurf his assistance as well," Papa Smurf said. ----- Meanwhile, Empath and Tapper had laid Polaris Psyche on one of the beds in the infirmary. Polaris' eyes had still not opened, and there was nobody else in the infirmary since both Dabbler and Medic were also affected by the black-heart arrow spell. "I have a feeling in my spirit that the spell the Smurfs are under is the work of that evil witch Chlorhydris, Empath," Tapper said as he looked at all the chaos going on in the village. "Why would this Chlorhydris want to spread a spell a hate upon the Smurfs?" Empath asked. "What have we done to her that she would put all her efforts into making us miserable?" "I don't think that it's anything the Smurfs have done to Chlorhydris, but rather whatever it is has been smurfed to her in her life, my fellow Empath," Tapper said. "Our first meeting with her was about a few years before you smurfed home for good, when she was searching for a cat that smurfed royal blood in his veins so that she could smurf a magic wishing well that was beyond the Forest of Poison Thorns on a Valentine's Day when the sun smurfed black as sackcloth. It turned out that Gargamel's cat Azrael was the special cat that she was smurfing for, and so she smurfed her way through the forest to the magic well so she could wish for a world that was without love." "This smurf remembers that Smurfette also went to a magic wishing well so that she could make a wish for her Prince Smurfing to come, and she went there with the help of Cupid because he wanted to stop someone else from making a wish," Empath said. "Indeed that is the very same story that I'm smurfing you, that Cupid was there to stop both Gargamel and Chlorhydris from smurfing their wishes, and in that he succeeded by making the two sorcerers smurf in love with each other," Tapper said. "But instead of Smurfette getting the wish she wanted, she ended up wishing for everything and everyone to be smurfed back to the way things were before they smurfed to the well, and thus she saved her fellow Smurfs who were also smurfing to the well to look for her." "It's unfortunate that Smurfette couldn't get the opportunity to get her original wish granted instead of the one she ultimately made, Tapper," Empath said. "Of course, this smurf would be surprised if that wish was actually granted, and who knows if that wish could have brought this smurf to her sooner than how it eventually came to be." "We may never know for certain how Smurfette's wish could have been granted, Empath, but at the very least she has you as part of her life now, which is what you and Smurfette should be happy for," Tapper said. "But if we don't find how out to cure everybody of this evil hate spell, I don't think either of you will have an eversmurfing relationship." "Tapper, I'm going to need your help with the other Smurfs in the village," Grandpa Smurf called out. Empath understood what Grandpa Smurf wanted with Tapper. "This smurf will stay here to keep watch over Polaris Psyche and see what happens to him when he awakens," Empath said. "Hopefully this will not become a repeat of what's happening with our fellow Smurfs." "I will continue to smurf you and Polaris in my prayers while I help Grandpa Smurf with keeping things under control, my fellow Empath," Tapper said before he left the infirmary. ----- At Chlorhydris' observatory, the evil witch was looking through her giant telescope at all the activity going on in the Smurf Village. She laughed with wicked delight upon seeing what has become of the Smurfs. "Splendid, splendid...my black-heart arrows are working perfectly," she said to her toucan. "The Smurfs are at each other's throats, and soon they will be no more. If I must live in a world without love, then so will everyone else." "Awwwwk, that's a-right," her toucan said. Unnoticed by her, Cupid and a few Smurfs have appeared outside a window in the observatory's main tower to see what Chlorhydris was up to when Cupid noticed something. "There they are...my arrows!" he cried out when he saw that the quiver was under a glass dome on top of a small pillar. "Well, what are you waiting for, Cupid?" Sassette said. "Why don't you just poof right in and smurf back your magic arrows?" "I'm afraid that I can't do that, Sassette," Cupid said. "Without my magic arrows, I'm rather poof-less. It's the only way that I can poof from one place to another." "Then it seems that we'll have to work together to get your magic arrows back, Cupid," Papa Smurf said. He, Vanity, Sassette, and Cupid leaped in through the window and carefully walked over toward the pillar so that they could remove the glass dome. "Shivering shrimp, what a spooky place this is," Sassette said as she looked around while she was walking, until she ended up tripping over a rug and falling to the floor. The toucan squawked as he heard a noise in the observatory. "What was that?" Chlorhydris said as her attention was turned away from her telescope. The Smurfs and Cupid formed a tower so that they could reach the glass dome on top of the small pillar, with Cupid standing at the bottom. "Hurry, Sassette," Papa Smurf grunted as he was straining to keep Vanity and Sassette stable while they were standing on top of him. "I just wish that Empath was here instead of us," Sassette said as she strained to lift up the glass dome from the top of the pillar. Then suddenly the four of them were scooped up in a net as Chlorhydris captured them all. "So you've come to restore love to the world, have you?" she said to her captives while laughing in their faces. "We'll see about that." ----- Soon the three Smurfs and Cupid were carried off by the evil witch in a cage. "What do you intend to smurf with us, Chlorhydris?" Papa Smurf asked. "Why, that's simple, Papa Smurf," Chlorhydris said as she held up the quiver full of black-heart arrows. "I'm going to teach you how to hate, just like the others." "That isn't going to accomplish anything to fill the emptiness that's inside your heart, Chlorhydris," Cupid said. "How dare you preach to me about love when you're responsible for the worst thing that has happened in my life, Cupid," Chlorhydris said. "And all the while, you would mock my lack of happiness by fulfilling that of other creatures, as if they are more deserving of your blessing than I. Well, you can sit and watch the world become just as empty as I am, when nobody will be able to fall in love with anybody, whether they are man or beast." "What a wretched and hateful woman she has become," Vanity said, sounding repulsed by the words coming from her mouth. "The only thing we Smurfs can feel is sympathy for your situation, Chlorhydris, but that doesn't make it excusable to rob somebody else of their happiness when it has been denied to you," Papa Smurf said. Sassette looked around and noticed something about the picture that was sitting on a table near Chlorhydris. "Pappy Smurf, that's him...the man that was smurfed to stone," Sassette cried out, directing Papa Smurf's attention to the picture. "What are you talking about, foolish child?" Chlorhydris said. "This is the picture of my fiance Manfred the Magnificent, and he wasn't made of stone except for his heart." She picked up the picture to look at it one more time. "He stood me up at the altar and made my life a living hell ever since." "So you're the one he was supposed to marry," Papa Smurf said, realizing what Sassette had told him. "Well, it's no wonder that he smurfed to stone," Vanity said with some disgust in his voice. "I wouldn't marry the witch if I were him." "But now he's a captive in Drusilla's cave, and that's where he's going to stay if we don't free him," Sassette said. Chlorhydris dropped the picture frame on the floor when she heard that. "Drusilla?" she gasped. "Where is this cave? I must save him!" "Why, it's over by the...," Sassette began to say before Papa Smurf covered her mouth to silence her. "We'll tell you where the cave is, but only if you would let us go free," Papa Smurf said. "Let you go free?" Chlorhydris said in disbelief, raising up her arms while dropping the quiver of black-heart arrows on her favorite chair. "How do I know that this isn't a trick?" "You'll have to trust us, Chlorhydris, because otherwise you will not see him again," Papa Smurf said. Chlorhydris leaned her face toward the cage. "I have a better idea, in order to prove that you are speaking the truth." ----- With only Vanity and Sassette released from the cage, Chlorhydris handed the little Smurfling a small round object. "This is a magic pellet that can depetrify anything that has been turned to stone," the evil witch explained. "Smash it against the statue, and Manfred will be free from the spell. Understand?" "Well, I think I do," Sassette said as she looked at the magic pellet. "You'd better understand this one thing...that if you're not back with Manfred by sundown, then Cupid and your precious Papa will be filled with a triple dose of hate," Chlorhydris said. "Rushing roosters, then we'd better get smurfing," Sassette said to Vanity. "If rescuing Manfred is going to make this witch happy, then I hope we can smurf there soon," Vanity said, agreeing with Sassette as they headed for the main gate. "Be careful, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf called out as he and Cupid watched the two Smurfs leave. Smurf to Part 5 Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:The Prisoner Of Stone chapters